Havana, September 6 (ACN) -- Cuba's men's volleyball team defeated Puerto Rico 3-0 on Tuesday in group B of the North, Central America and Caribbean Continental Championship (Norceca), a tournament that will conclude next Sunday at the Coliseum in Charleston, West Virginia, United States.

According to the website www.norceca.net, the disciples of technical director Jesús Cruz won in straight sets 25-21, 25-19 and 25-15, after one hour and six minutes on the court and Miguel Ángel López, top scorer of the match with 13 points, eight in attack, one in blocking and four in service.

The other Cuban who stood out was Marlón Yant (12/10-1-1), as well as Puerto Rican Jamal Ellis Carballo (11/9-1-1), the only three with double digits.

The official statistics of the challenge reflect Cuba's superiority in all elements of the game: in attack they were better 34-25, as well as in blocking (11-6), service (8-3) and own errors (21-22).

For the program, the team of the largest of the Antilles will face Suriname on Wednesday and the United States on Thursday.

At the technical meeting of the tournament, Cruz declared "This is a very important tournament because it awards points for the world ranking. We all know that the countries are in the fight for the Olympic qualification and this is an opportunity to obtain points and advance in the ranking".

He added "that is why most of the teams are here with their A team, as we have seen in the tournaments in Europe and South America".

Canada defeated the Dominican Republic 3-0 (25-11, 25-8 and 25-12) in the A section.

In addition to the Cuba-Suriname match, this Wednesday the Americans and Puerto Ricans will play in the B bracket, while the Canadians and Mexicans will play in the A bracket.

The group stage will conclude on Thursday and the winners of each bracket will advance directly to Saturday's semifinal stage, the second and third places will advance to Friday's quarterfinals, and on Sunday the bronze and gold medals will be fought for.